Education & Pedagogy

The third phase of a competency-based industrial teacher education project was designed to implement an inservice competency-based industrial teacher education program. (Phases I and II had identified professional competencies needed by industrial education instructors and pilot-tested a preservice workshop.) Seventeen non-certified instructors were aided in mastering the inservice competencies by fifteen local resource persons and six industrial teacher educators working cooperatively with a series of professional vocational teacher education modules. Competency rating instruments were devised and the seventeen instructors were rated by students and educators on fifty-seven preservice and inservice competencies. Instructors were generally rated as effective, and it appears that a field-based, competency-based approach is a viable alternative to the traditional university approach to industrial teacher education. However, it was concluded that a more effective system of evaluating instructors' mastery of competencies is needed, and that the three phases did not fully address the issue of competency-based vocational education and that additional research is needed in this area. Data tables are interspersed throughout the report and rating forms used in the project are appended. (BL)

Results are presented of a national workshop designed to improve educational and employment opportunities for handicapped and disadvantaged persons by providing a setting for fifteen university teams (one from each of the ten U.S. Office of Education regions and five at large) to develop specific plans of action for the creation or expansion of programs to improve the preparation of vocational education teachers serving the special needs learner. Pre-workshop planning activities are described, including a brief analysis of the 1976 workshop on vocational education for the special needs student. Workshop activities are described; these focused on seven individual presentations relative to special needs programs from three perspectives (vocational education, special education, and a local education agency), legislation affecting vocational education, and the preparation of professional educators. A report of team action planning and strategy sessions is also presented. An evaluation of the workshop follows, along with a report on post-workshop activities which occurred during the seven-month interim between the workshop and the final report. A forty-four-page appendix contains a variety of forms used for the workshop; planning, review, and evaluation instruments; and a team report questionnaire. (BL)

This book contains 29 articles for elementary and secondary teachers dealing with fundamental concepts and teaching techniques in values education. Part one of the book deals with concepts. Louis E. Raths examines valuing and its relationship to freedom and intelligence. The cognitive developmental approach to moral education is discussed by Lawrence Kohlberg. Sidney Simon and Polly deSherbinin discuss the aims of and teaching methods used in values clarification exercises. Other topics discussed in part one include values education in a confluent social studies curriculum and how the schools and society are often barriers to values education. Part two, which comprises two-thirds of the book, deals with teaching techniques. Jack Fraenkel discusses how to analyze value conflict. How to conduct moral discussions in the classroom is examined by Barry Beyer. Mary Yanker discusses humanizing through value clarification. Other areas treated include values clarification vs. indoctrination, values and health education, pop music and values clarification, and multiculturalism in moral education. The book ends with an interview with Alvin Toffler on the role of the future and values in education and with a discussion by Lawrence Senesh of the challenge of value commitment. (Author/RM)

Eighteen papers about education, training, and extension in rural areas of the developing world are presented in this 1975 journal published jointly by three United Nations agencies closely concerned with education and rural development: Food and Agriculture Organization; Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization; International Labor Organization. Scope of the publication has been broadened from training for agriculture to the whole area of rural development. Paper topics are: Training and the Green Revolution; Integrated Approach to Agricultural and Rural Development: Asia and the Far East; Training for Small-Farmer Credit Projects; Education and Training for Rural Workers' Organizations; Rural Development: Chinese Approach; Schooling, Social Problems, and Rural Development; International Women's Year: Important Considerations for the Rural Sector; Training and Development-Pictorial Review; Population Education in Rural Extension; Agricultural Education in Developing Countries; Integrated Rural Development and Planning for Rural Communities; Communication and Agricultural Research; Fogo Process in Communication; Extension Studies in Paraguay and Ecuador; In-Service Training for Agriculture in Malaysia; Intermediate Agricultural Education for Rural Development; Training Illiterate Youth for Rural Handicrafts; Reflections on 10 Years in the African Continent. The journal also contains a section on meetings and on books and reports. (RS)

In Australia, drug and alcohol education should be an integral part of a total health education program with an emphasis on developing student decision-making powers. The use of explicit information about drugs and attempts to scare people away from drugs may actually be counterproductive and encourage drug abuse. The teacher is the primary health educator in the school, and speakers on health from outside the school must be used in moderation. There are a number of shortcomings in the current provision of drug and health education. There must be stronger support for health education, commencing in the primary school. A number of agencies are available for drug education and counselling. Greater coordination of all agencies is called for. There should be more opportunities for continuing education for health teachers. Many groups in the community can benefit from health education programs. The mass media may at times inadvertantly encourage drug use and ought to be more responsible. Legislators ought to keep an open mind about the desirability of legal sanctions against drug use. Related materials in the appendix include surveys of student drug use, a proposed drug education program, and a recommendation for the principal's response to drug abuse in the school. (Author/JM)

The perceptions of faculty and administrators regarding the following issues were assessed: the distinction between general and liberal education; the supporting philosophical or conceptual bases of general education; its societal goals and intellectual orientation; the place within general education of interdisciplinarity; and the role of general education in the graduate and undergraduate curricula. Study group members were proponents of general education and curricular reform. Of the over 330 respondents, 60 percent believed that there are important conceptual, substantive, and procedural differences between general and liberal education, while 35 percent considered the terms interchangeable. However, when asked to give their perceptions of their institutions' perspectives, the opposite was true; nearly 61 percent believed that liberal and general education were seen as interchangeable terms, while 36 percent thought that the two were considered to be distinct from one another. Nearly all respondents considered general education a component of the undergraduate curriculum, while nearly one half thought that liberal education comprised the entire program. Nearly three-quarters of the respondents felt that liberal education should be a component of graduate study. The pattern of responses suggests that there was a good deal of agreement among respondents concerning the concept and practice of general education. A bibliography is appended. (SW)

This annotated bibliography, Part II in a series, cites current literature concerning the future of education or the many factors affecting educational development in member states of Unesco. Part I of the series was issued in June of 1979 and focuses on the core literature concerned specifically with the future of education, as well as literature in the closely related field of educational development. The present complementary volume constitutes Part II of the bibliography and covers three further broad categories of literature dealing with: 1) education and the individual; 2) education and society; and 3) international cooperation in education. Books, reports, journal articles, legislation, and government publications published since 1972 are cited. While every effort was made to include titles published in all parts of the world, the majority of the titles listed were published in North America. Topics dealt with include: the learning process; learning needs; individual demand; education for development; education for social change; implications of social change for education; effects of demographic changes on education; the democratization of education; education in relation to culture, employment and science and technology; focus of international cooperation, and evaluation of past and current performance in international cooperation. (Author/RM)

Major criticisms of teacher education in Canada reveal the following problems: (1) The time provided for teacher preparation is too short; (2) Programs and faculty are insufficiently oriented to modern research in education; (3) Curriculum design too often reflects teacher educators' interests rather than teachers' needs; (4) Response to the changing roles of teachers and functions of the schools has been too slow and erratic; and (5) Pressures of enrollment decline and inadequate financing distract faculties from accomplishing their mission of improvement of elementary and secondary education. Further demands on teachers and teacher education programs stem from social problems and concerns, extension of the teacher's role, special interest groups, and declining enrollment. Institutional responses to these and other current problems are described. The functions and responsibilities of active teacher associations in various provinces are pointed out as reflecting an attempt to increase the relevancy of teachers' preservice, inservice, and continuing professional education. Suggestions are also made for changing and improving teacher education curriculum in the universities. Appendices present a selective summary of a decade of educational research, teacher education and certification policies of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, and 82 selected references on teacher education. (JD)

This article discusses the involvement of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) in transnational education policy-making, with particular reference to the global initiative Education for All (EFA). EFA is a policy process carried out by international governmental organisations (IGOs) with the main aim to achieve basic education for all children, youth and adults. A participant in this process since 2000 is the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), an advocacy network of INGOs, established jointly by Oxfam, ActionAid International, Education International and Global March Against Child Labour. This article examines the role and impact of these advocacy INGOs in EFA, in terms of the structural conditions created by the current mode of "global governance" in education. In its first section, this article draws a conceptual framework purported to illuminate the way transnational policy in education is produced. The main part investigates the role and impact of the GCE in EFA. Overall, this article challenges the common perception about INGOs, that they are democratising agents in transnational education policy, as the latter is structurally undemocratic.

There has been much international concern about the present and future status of school physical education. Recent research has employed surveys or case studies to examine the status of physical education but there is a dearth of in-depth physical education curriculum document analysis. The aim of this study is to contribute to the international discussion about physical education curricula by expanding upon previous interpretations of Canada's physical education curricula and addressing additional aspects that may have been overlooked. Results of an analysis of Canada's 10 provincial physical education curricula reveal trends and themes related to instructional time allocations, curricular aim statements, curricular organizing categories and learning outcome statements. While the stated aim of physical education curricula in Canada is focused on healthy, active living, there is evidence that the specific content of the learning outcome statements are more focused on movement skills, games and sport technique. This contradiction sparks further discussion about the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of physical education curricula and the importance of understanding what has, is, and perhaps should be influencing decisions about curriculum development throughout the world.

Objective: To provide a historical perspective on factors that have shaped the current structure of athletic training education, and to advocate development of a new conceptual framework for a continuum of professional education in athletic training. Background: Athletic training is a relatively young profession that has undergone significant planned change in education and credentialing to enhance the practitioner knowledge and to promote the credibility of the profession within the healthcare community. However, comparison of the prevailing model for basic and advanced professional education in athletic training to those of other health professions reveals major structural differences. In an effort to promote an integrated approach to the spectrum of athletic training education, and to be consistent with terminology used by other health professions, the term professional education is used to designate entry-level education and the term post-professional education is used to designate post-certification, or advanced, education. Conclusions: Perceived problems with the current educational structure, along with advocated changes, are presented to clarify issues that will affect the future of the athletic training profession. Although change inevitably generates controversy, a failure to address these issues will almost certainly impede advancement of the profession.

This paper makes a critical appraisal of teacher education programmes in achieving curriculum goals. Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school and wider community. Although ideally it should be conceived of, and organized as, a seamless continuum, teacher education is often divided into several stages, especially in Kenya. This paper, therefore, makes a critical evaluation of teacher education programmes in the Kenya school curriculum. It develops an understanding of the concepts in teacher education and the diversity of curriculum for teacher preparation at the respective stages from the neophyte or pre-primary stages to continuing education. It further examines the educational trends of post-independent Kenya in respect to teacher preparation as well as the diverse global perspectives. A comprehensive landscape of teacher education in Kenya is provided, drawing from the history. Finally, the paper dissects the emerging challenges of teacher education in Kenya in the realm of attainment of Kenya's Vision 2030 and makes recommendation of the prospects in this field associated with this kind of education in the attaining of the overall goals of education in Kenya.

In Germany, the implementation of the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for sustainable development (ESD) 2015-2019 aims to implement ESD more profoundly within the structures of Germany's educational system. In this context, a national monitoring has been set up in order to analyze the extent and quality of ESD implementation in all educational areas. The paper contains the results of an indicator-based desk research comprising a content analysis of key documents in three areas of education: early childhood education, school education and higher education over a period of 5 years (2011-2016). Overall, the main results indicate that, at the level of key documents, the goal of a broad implementation of ESD is not yet achieved, while there are considerable differences among the federal states. ESD and related concepts can be found more frequently particularly in documents that are more recent. At the same time, ESD is increasingly predominating other educational concepts such as environmental education. The results are one component of a comprehensive monitoring process of ESD-implementation on the level of documents and offer important insights relevant for further (political) activities aiming at a mainstreaming of ESD.

This paper aims to discuss recent changes in Portugal's education policy. Portugal offers an interesting scenario to study the different ways the economic crisis has brought new opportunities to strengthen the privatization agenda. We specifically focus on media coverage and the contractualization of education services with private schools through 'association contracts'. In the 1980s the Portuguese State through these contracts financed private schools to operate in areas where the public offering was insufficient, thereby ensuring the public access to education and preventing marginalization. Nowadays, however, these contracts are seen as an ideological banner both for and against education privatization. We present an empirical study based on documental analysis of 180 news articles published in the Portuguese media on the changes in the contractualization of education services. The results show two main audiences sustaining distinct societal projects, comprised of a variety of actors, who are either for or against 'association contracts'. The actors justify their positions based on their understanding of the State's role in providing education, the policies involving the right to education and decreasing inequalities.

Purpose: This article summarizes recent developments in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Chinese education, paying particular attention to the different applications of AI at a number of different levels. The article reviews key government policies and guidelines and suggests a course for future development. Design/Approach/Methods: The article analyzes key government policies relevant to the implementation of AI in Chinese education. Additionally, the article leverages the author's experience as a key member of national information technology curriculum development, which involved participation in the drafting of various curriculum standards and policy documents and discussions with numerous administrative officials, teachers, and researchers. Findings: This article argues that the use of AI in Chinese education varies at different levels. AI implementation is at its early stage in elementary education; more prevalent in higher education, and even more common in the field of civic education. As a result, in multiple dimensions, Chinese students are becoming better trained to face an age of AI and working together to create an informatized education environment. Originality/Value: This article describes how China is searching for the point where top-down system design meets bottom-up applications to chart its own course for the use of AI in education.